Curiosity Caring Creativity Celebration Confidence Special Educational Needs and Disability Information Report Aims: To ensure that every child experiences success To promote a positive attitude to learning and individual confidence To ensure that quality first teaching is taking place across the school and that lessons are differentiated appropriately To give pupils with SEND equal opportunities to take part in all aspects of school life, as far as is appropriate To involve parents/carers in planning and supporting their child s development To work with other professionals and support services We believe that every pupil, regardless of gender, race or disability has a right to access a broad and balanced curriculum. We provide for children with a range of special needs at Larkrise Primary School within the four broad areas of SEND: Communication and Interaction; this includes children who have speech, language and communication difficulties, including autistic spectrum conditions. Cognition and Learning; this includes children who have learning difficulties and specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia. Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs. Sensory and/or Physical Needs; this includes children who have visual or hearing needs, or a physical disability that affects their learning. The Local Offer: The Local Offer is a compendium of all services available to support children and families with SEND living in Oxfordshire. It provides families with choices and an understanding of the range of services and provision within the local area allowing them to make informed decisions. The Oxfordshire Local Offer can be found at: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/public-site/special-educational-needs-and-disability-local-offer How do we know if your child needs extra help and what should you do if you think your child may have special educational needs? A child has a specific educational need and/or disability where there are significant barriers to their learning. Concerns may be raised if the child s progress is very slow and if they are working well below age related expectations. If staff are concerned that your child has a special educational need we will try to gain a picture of how they are doing in school and any barriers to their learning in various ways such as observations and assessments. We use the Oxfordshire County Council guidance Identifying and Supporting Special Educational Needs in
Oxfordshire Schools and Settings. This guidance sets out how to identify if a child has a special educational need, how to assess a child and plan for this need, including ways in which to adapt our teaching and school environment. The school will discuss with you any concerns you may have, what strategies will be used in school or any outside agencies that may be able to help and how we can work together to support your child at home and school. If you are concerned that your child may have special educational needs the class teacher is the first point of contact as they work with your child on a daily basis and monitor their progress. You can also meet with the Acting Special Educational Need Co-ordinator (SENCO) Ann Howden, the Acting Head Teacher Charlotte Stewart or the Acting Deputy Head Polly Blok. If you feel there is a family situation contributing to your child s progress you can meet with Yvonne Elder, the Family Support Worker. All appointments can be arranged by telephoning or visiting the school. Please note Ann Howden and Polly Blok work Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. If a child joins from another school we use information provided by the previous setting, the family and our own assessments to identify what their SEND provision will be in our school setting. You can contact SENDIASS (SEN and Disability, Advice and Support Service) a service that offers impartial information, advice and support to parents of children and young people with SEN and disabilities. https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/public-site/sendiass-oxfordshire-formerly-parent-partnership How will the school support my child? There is a three tier approach to support: Quality First Teaching: the teacher has high expectations for all pupils, carefully plans teaching and uses differentiation and additional adults appropriately reducing the need for intervention. SEN Support: additional support is given possibly as interventions and/or specialist advice from outside agencies. Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP): for children who have severe, complex and lifelong needs that fall into at least two of the categories of education, health and care. The plan will outline specific support for the child, parents/carers and the child will all provide input in creating and annually reviewing the plan. Knowing that a child s needs change over time the level of support your child receives will also change. The school aims to gain information over time through following a four stage cycle: Assess, Plan, Do, and Review. All children on the school SEND register will have a Pupil Profile, this has individual targets set for your child and will be reviewed three times a year, although the targets will be adjusted as soon as your child has met them. Parents/carers and when appropriate the child will be involved in the process of setting and reviewing these targets. How will I know how my child is doing? We have three yearly assessment weeks in which all children will be assessed in reading, writing and maths. You will be informed of the results of these at Parent/Teacher Consultations or alongside the school report. At the end of each key stage (end of year 2 and 6) these assessments will be Standard Assessment Tests. This is something the government requires all schools to do. If your child is in Year 1 or above but is not yet able to be assessed using the same framework, a more sensitive assessment tool is used, P Levels, these shows their level in more detail and will show smaller but significant steps of progress. At parents evenings each child with a Pupil Profile will be given a double time slot in order to review the provision, targets and progress with the class teacher. At these meetings you or the class teacher can request that the SENCO also attend, or if you would rather you may book a separate appointment on the evening.
Additional meetings if you have any issues you wish to discuss can be made with the class teacher, SENCO, Family Support Worker, Deputy or Head Teacher. You may be invited in to have discussions with other professionals involved with your child, e.g. Speech and Language Therapist or Educational Psychologist or you may receive written reports. The progress of children with a Statement or EHC Plan is formally reviewed at an Annual Review, with all the adults involved in the child s education. How will the learning and development provision be matched to my child s needs? Children at Larkrise with SEND will get support that is specific to their individual needs. This support may be provided by the class teacher or may involve specific interventions. The class teacher will have the highest possible expectations for all pupils in their class. All teaching is based on building on what your child already knows, can do and can understand. The teacher will use different ways of teaching and learning so your child is fully involved and progressing, while developing skills to become a more independent learner. All lessons are differentiated and groupings will vary to suit the lesson and learners. Additional adults are used to reinforce and extend skills. Strategies suggested by the SENCO or outside professionals will also be used, such as a visual timetable and this may include adapting the classroom environment, such as providing a work station or quiet zone. We run one-to-one and small group intervention programmes in spelling, reading and writing. They may be run by the class teacher, another teacher, teaching assistant or by an approved outside agency such as Reading Quest. All of these groups are put together to address specific gaps identified by the class teacher and SENCO when analysing the assessment data. All interventions are closely monitored to ensure they are resulting in good progress being made. Some children may have needs that require one-to-one support as outlined in their Statement or EHC Plan. This may be to; support a medical/physical or emotional/social need, deliver a specialist package, access certain parts of the curriculum or provide individual teaching programmes. What specialist services and expertise are available or accessed by the school? Some children will need further support from outside agencies. We will discuss with you and may ask your permission before making a referral and you may be required to sign a consent form. Specialist support services include: Special Educational Needs Support Services (SENSS) which includes: Autism Advisory Service, Language and Communication Needs, Hearing Support Service, Physical Disability Service, Visual Impairment Support Service, Down s syndrome and Complex needs, Multi-Sensory Impairment Team and SEN/ICT Advisory Service. Educational Psychology Service Occupational Therapy Service School Nursing Team Speech and Language Therapy Oxfordshire Schools Inclusions Team Child and Adolescent Mental health Services (CAMHS) and Primary Early Intervention Service (Hubs and Children s Centres) What training have the staff had in supporting children with SEND? Part of the SENCO s job is to support teachers in planning for children with SEND. The school has a school development plan which includes identified training needs for all staff to improve the teaching and learning of all children. This may include whole school training on SEND issues or to support identified groups of learners in school. We have whole staff training to disseminate knowledge, strategies and experience, to ensure
consistency of the school s approach for children with SEND. Individual teachers and support staff attend training courses run by outside agencies that are relevant to the needs of specific children in their class. Past training for either the whole staff, groups or individuals has included: Generalist and Advanced safeguarding training Level 1 and 2 Autism Spectrum Condition Awareness Training Sign Language and Communication Training Language and Communication for Children with Down s Syndrome Anti-Bullying for children with SEND Basic First Aid Epi-pen training FFT Wave 3 Precision Teaching Team Teach Training SEND code of practice Safer Recruitment Relax Kids Webster Stratton Parenting ELSA Emotional Literacy What support will there be for my child s overall wellbeing? At Larkrise we have a comprehensive pastoral support programme. All children have the opportunity to share their views through the weekly Circles and the representatives from these groups bring together the children s views. Classes hold regular circle times in which social and emotional issues are discussed. Some pupils may attend small nurture groups focusing on social, emotional, communication issues, such as helping encourage self-esteem, building resilience and working on anger management skills (see additional intervention details on the website for further information). Sometimes the school will get support from elsewhere e.g. the school nurse or make referrals to other support services such as CAMHS (Child and Adolescent mental Health Service). For some children it may be appropriate for a Early Health Assessment (EHA) to be written. This is an assessment of a child s strengths and needs, taking account of the role of parents, carers and environmental factors on their development. Then a plan of support can be agreed with the child and family and deciding how those needs should be met. A meeting, called a TAC/F (Team Around the Child/Family) may be called to bring the family, child and all the professionals involved together. If your child needs regular or occasional medicine to be given you need to talk to the office staff who will ask you to fill out the relevant paperwork. If your child has personal care needs you can meet with the medical TA Abi who will liaise with the SENCO to ensure a plan is put in place. What support is there for behaviour, avoiding exclusions and increasing attendance? We understand that difficult behaviour is likely to be a symptom of underlying issues. We try to work with you and your child to identify what may be causing the problem and then work together to support them in moving forward. We explain to the children what is expected of them and why, we have a clear rewards and consequences system that is followed by all staff. For some children the class teacher may wish to regularly meet with you to discuss behaviour or the child s well-being and sometimes it might be easier to communicate via a home/school book. If your child has ongoing behaviour difficulties the Head Teacher, Deputy, SENCO or Family Support Worker may need to talk to you and if appropriate a Behaviour Plan may be written. The attendance of every child is monitored on a daily basis by Paula White and Yvonne Elder. If your child is absent and you haven t written or phoned in to tell us why, you will be contacted. Lateness and absence are monitored by the Senior Leadership Team. Senior leaders and Yvonne Elder will work with any family who is
struggling with lateness and attendance to support them in overcoming difficulties. The Attendance and Engagement Team will be involved where necessary. How will my child be included in activities outside the classroom? All children are included where possible in outside activities and school trips. For offsite activities a risk assessment is carried out and procedures are put in place to meet any additional needs to enable all children to participate fully. For children with significant needs they may require an individual risk assessment. It may be decided that 1:1 support is required for a child with specific needs and an additional staff member or parent may be asked to accompany the child. We understand that including parents may make both the parent and child feel more at ease. We will talk to you about what will work best for your child. How accessible is the school environment? We will do our best to meet individual needs, please make an appointment to discuss your child s requirements. You may view the schools accessibility plan on the school website. How will the school prepare and support my child to transfer to a new school? We think it is very important that children are well prepared for the next stage in their education and feel supported through any transitions. We recognise that transitions may be more difficult for a child with SEND and take steps to ensure that they are as smooth as possible. We encourage all new children and their parents to visit the school prior to starting. Starting in Foundation Stage Induction events take place in terms 5 and 6. All Nursery children receive a home visit. All pupils are given the opportunity to visit the Foundation Stage on several occasions. Pupils with SEND may have additional visits and liaise with pre-school keyworkers. Photograph books may also be used to aid transition. For pre-school pupils with an existing Statement or EHCP the SENCO or Nursery teacher will endeavour to attend professional meetings such as Annual Reviews before the child starts. Moving into the next year group Information is passed on to the new teacher in a planning meeting and the individual needs of all children will be discussed. Pupil Profiles will be shared along with any other key information. All pupils will visit their new classroom and teacher and for some children there may be extra visits organised. Transition booklets may be given to some SEND pupils containing key information and photographs. We encourage all pupils but especially those who this might be a challenging time for to return to school routines and timings prior to the start of term and some children may be able to come into school briefly before the start of the new term. Moving between primary schools If your child leaves Larkrise we will contact the school SENCO to ensure they know about any special arrangements or support that need to be made for your child. We will make sure that any relevant records are passed on. If your child joins us from another primary school and has a specific SEND we ensure that all paperwork has been transferred to us and we might contact your child s previous school to discuss the support your child received. Secondary Transition
For pupils with SEND we liaise with the SENCO and colleagues from the secondary schools to discuss provision, strategies and additional needs. All records about your child will be passed on to their new school as soon as possible. Representatives from local secondary schools visit to speak about the transition process and we hold mock secondary school days. Some schools organise additional visits for vulnerable pupils or those with additional needs. The Family Support Worker also leads a question and answer session. For some children it may be that the Learning Mentor Team will become involved and help to further aid the transition process. How are the school s resources allocated and attached to children s special educational needs and/or disability? The school budget, received from the Local Authority, includes money for supporting children with SEND. The Head Teacher, in conjunction with the school Bursar, decides on the budget for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in conjunction with the school governors on the basis of needs in the school. The Head Teacher and SENCO discuss all the information they have about SEND in the school, including: the children getting extra support already, the children needing extra support and the children who have been identified as not making as much progress as would be expected. They decide on what resources, training and support is needed. Polly Blok: SENCO Date: December 2017 Review date: December 2018 Approved by Governing Body: December 2017 Headteacher: Charlotte Stewart December 2018